Chapter 37: A Little Too Curious

A few mornings later, Gabriella was sitting on the bed, waiting for Troy to come back from the kitchen. They had snuck out for an early morning swim, just the two of them. It had been freezing cold, but Gabriella had promised Troy she would go before the week was up, and they were only there for about two more days. Troy had left a few minutes before to grab a few of Zeke's muffins for them.

Gabriella happily twisted a chunk of her still wet hair around her finger, and re-adjusted the towel she had placed around her shoulders so that her dripping hair wouldn't get her shirt wet. Her phone suddenly beeped, signaling to her that she had a message. So, she leaned over and picked it up, instantly beginning to read the screen.

She was replying to the message when the bedroom door opened and Troy came back in. He shut the door behind him. "Hey you." Gabby smiled, pausing from typing away at her phone, and looking up at him.

"What is it with you and that phone?" Troy asked curiously as he approached. He had seen her with it several times over the week, and knew that she wasn't usually that obsessive. Gabriella noticed that he had a plate with two muffins on it, as well as a small stack of napkins, and two bottles of orange juice.

She seemed caught for a moment, before putting her phone back down on the bedside table. "It's nothing." She smiled. "Don't worry about it." She assured him, watching him sit down on the bed. "This looks good." She commented happily when he handed her a bottle of juice.

"Anything for my Gabby." Troy joked, purposely sounding cheesy.

Gabriella laughed. "Dork." She shot back jokingly. Troy did a fake gasp.

"I am not a dork!" He told her.

Gabriella smirked. "Oh yes you are. I love it." She told him. "I'll be back." She added, pushing herself up from the bed. She headed towards the bathroom.

"Okay." Troy replied right before the bathroom door closed. His eyes happened to fall on Gabriella's cell phone, sitting on the table right beside the bed. He knew she had told him not to worry about it, but he just couldn't push the curiosity from his mind. It was beginning to bug him.

Since Gabriella was fully in the bathroom, Troy quietly leaned over and picked up her phone. He new he shouldn't have to know, or even care who she was constantly messaging, but he felt a need to know. He was surprised when he scrolled through and saw that most of the recent messages were to or from Tristan. There were a few from other friends too.nHe clicked on the last message received from Tristan, feeling his curiosity growing more at each moment.

"Troy?" He suddenly heard and looked up fearfully before he could read a word. Sure enough, Gabriella was standing just outside the bathroom door, looking at him curiously. "Is that my phone?" she asked.

She was waiting for an answer, not sure what to say. There was no point in trying to cover it up now. "There are a lot of messages from Tristan in here…" Troy started carefully.

"Um…yeah." Gabby replied.

"Why?" Troy asked.

Gabriella looked at him. "Why does it matter?"

"I'm just a little concerned, that's all." Troy told her truthfully.

"Why?" Gabriella asked. She waited for an answer but grew impatient when he didn't give her one. "Because you don't like him and think he's a jerk?"

Troy sighed in frustration. "Well maybe…" he told her. "Or maybe because I don't get what's going on between you two."

"There's nothing going on!" Gabriella argued, slightly stunned by his accusation.

She was now standing a few feet away. "Whatever." Troy said stubbornly.

Gabby couldn't believe this. "Why are you getting mad?" she asked all of a sudden. "I'm the one who should be mad, I just caught you going through my phone!" she suddenly realized how strange that was. She wouldn't have expected Troy do ever do something like that.

He just looked at her. "You think that's the bigger problem here?" He asked. "Wouldn't you get suspicious if I was acting all weird and telling you it was nothing, then you figured out I was secretly talking to some other girl?"

"That's not the same thing." Gabriella shook her head.

"Seems pretty similar to me. Troy shot back.

Gabriella was silent for a moment, before sighing and sitting down on the bed beside him, figuring she should explain a little bit. It might help to clear things up. "Look, Tristan told me something about his past, that was kind of…intense." She told Troy. "I'm just trying to be a good friend."

"What was it?" Troy asked curiously.

Gabriella remembered how she promised Tristan that she wouldn't tell anyone what he had told her. "I can't tell you." She said uneasily.

"You can't tell me?" Troy repeated in disbelief.

"I'm sorry," she sighed. "I promised I wouldn't"

Troy looked at her. "Aren't you supposed to be able to tell me anything?" he asked, sounding annoyed. "Isn't that some rule of dating or whatever?"

Gabriella shrugged. "Yeah." She nodded. "But I just…"

"Gabby, I think you're getting in too deep with this." Troy told her. He could tell that whatever it was, had truly taken over her mind.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked defensively.

"Well you barely know the guy!" Troy's voice rose a little.

Gabriella looked at him angrily. "Yeah well I didn't know you before I got up on stage with you!" she shot back coldly.

Troy was about to argue that the New Years party was completely different from this situation, when the door flew open. "Gabby, get ready as fast as you can, we're going shopping!" Sharpay exclaimed loudly. She stopped in her tracks and looked between Troy and Gabriella, who were both clearly angry. Behind her, Taylor and Kelsi were noticing the same thing. "Sorry." She apologized, knowing the three of them had obviously interrupted something when they had barged in.

"We'll just wait for you in the living room." Taylor informed Gabriella, slowly backing out with Sharpay and Kelsi.

Gabby glanced at Troy, fully giving up. "No, I'm ready now." she told her friends, grabbing her purse from the table, and her cell phone right out of Troy's hand. She followed her friends out the door, not even bothering to say goodbye.

Troy winced when the door closed with a slam. He groaned in frustration and flopped down on the bed behind him.

That had not gone well.

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Sharpay stopped just inside the big mall doors and took a deep breath. "Ah, it's like fresh air." She said happily, before getting odd looks form her friends. "You guys have no idea how good it is to get out of the house." She shook her head.

"I know exactly what you mean." Taylor sighed.

"Same here." Kelsi added.

Gabriella stayed silent, but luckily none of them noticed because Sharpay started talking again. "It's totally and completely amazing to have Zeke back home from his trip, but I think part of him is stuck in some far away country." She explained. "It's beginning to drive me nuts."

Taylor nodded, agreeing. "Ugh, Chad is just always there." She said, venting. "Everywhere I turn. It's like I can't escape."

Kelsi let out a little laugh. "I'm just getting sick of the boys in general." She added. "Which is why I immediately agreed to shopping, no boys to worry about."

The three of them looked to Gabriella, who was still remaining silent. "Gabby?" Taylor waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello? Are you okay?" she asked.

Gabriella snapped out of it. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said quickly, not sounding like her usual self.

Her friends exchanged a look. "Okay, I didn't want to bring this up before, but what did we interrupt this morning with you and Troy?" Sharpay asked.

"It was nothing." Gabriella lied.

Taylor rolled her eyes. "You guys were totally fighting weren't you?" she knew right away.

"No, we weren't" she denied.

"Well that's what it sounded like." Kelsi told her.

"We weren't fighting." Gabriella insisted, feeling like she was repeating herself. "We were just….sharing our feelings." She said. She knew that sounded stupid, but she didn't feel like sharing every little detail with them yet.

Sharpay raised a finely arched eyebrow. "Isn't that the same thing?"

Gabriella shrugged. "Who cares?"

"Your dear friends who have nothing but concern for you." Taylor informed her.

Gabriella shook her head and looked at her friends. She was lucky to have them care about her so much that they interrogated her about her boyfriend troubles. "You guys, everything is fine." She assured them. She smiled. "I promise."

"Mhm…" Kelsi said noncommittally. "We'll believe it when we see it."

"Fine, but can we just stop talking about this right now?" Gabriella wanted to get off the subject as soon as possible.

"Okay, let's drop it." Taylor agreed, seeing that Gabriella really didn't want to talk about it. She knew she eventually would, because that's just how Gabriella worked.

Sharpay and Kelsi caught on right away and happily switched gears. "Well then, here to we begin girls?" Sharpay asked them, looking around to all of the stores.

"Clothes!" Kelsi said.

"Shoes." Gabby chimed in, a small smile finally coming to her face.

"Makeup!" Taylor added on to the list.

Sharpay laughed. "Okay then, we better get started."

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Hours later, the girls had worn out almost every good store in the mall, spent plenty of money, and fully ranted about anything that was on their minds. Gabriella had stayed quiet almost the entire time, but had still taken comfort in the shopping she had done. She wouldn't need to go for months if she didn't want to. But of course she wanted to.

"Well I guess we're done." Taylor sighed, staring around, hoping to find another store to spend time in.

"Is it just me, or are you guys not ready to go back yet?" Sharpay asked.

"To tell you the truth, I'm completely starving." Kelsi said.

"There was a restaurant right across the street." Gabriella put in, remembering when they had gotten there that morning. "Why don't we just go there?" she asked, wanting some food herself. She had a headache from the loudness of the mall, as well as her own friends. Sure she loved them, but it seemed like all they had done today was complain.

"Sounds good to me." Taylor agreed for all of them. They quickly made their way out of the mall, stopping at Sharpay's car to dump their bags. Luckily when they got to the restaurant, it wasn't busy, and they were soon sitting in a comfy booth.

"Perfect." Kelsi sighed happily when she sat down.

Sharpay looked a little disheartened for a moment. "Do you guys thinks its bad at all that all four of us feel the need to get away from the guys after spending like less then a week with them?" she asked.

Kelsi understood right away. "Makes you think…" she sighed.

Taylor didn't seem to agree. "Well when you think about it, no one literally stays in a house for days at a time." She pointed out. "We've all been cooped up together, so even though it's strange that we have to take a break, I think it's alright to." She said.

"Good point Tay." Sharpay changed her mind.

"Plus you've heard me all day, I'm in desperate need of some anti-Chad time." Taylor added with a little pathetic laugh. "Maybe we're just too different to last…" she sighed.

For some reason that pushed Gabriella over the edge she had been balancing ever since she had left the house that morning. She was sick of hearing them complain about things that were so stupid, and easily fixable. "Oh my god, can you guys hear yourselves?" she suddenly burst out.

"What?" Sharpay was shocked at Gabriella's sudden angry tone.

"I've just been listening to the three of you complain all day about the most ridiculous things." She explained. "Taylor, Chad s just Chad. You know that, and I think it would be stupid if you suddenly start thinking that the two of you being different is a problem, because it never was before." She first told Taylor, shocking her with her boldness. "And Shar, Zeke is just excited about his trip, can't you see that? He wants to share it with you, so cant you just pretend to understand?" she said to Sharpay second. "And Kelsi, I don't even know what you're complaining about." She finished, before sighing and leaning back into the booth.

The three of them were staring at her in shock. "Oh my god, is it that bad?" Sharpay asked.

"Is what that bad?" Gabby asked impatiently.

"Your fight with Troy." Taylor cleared up.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Guys, I told you, we are not in a fight." She told them, yet again. They had been trying to get her to open up all day.

"Yeah we stopped believing that the minute you told us." Kelsi sounded serious.

Gabriella realized that there was no way out of this. "Okay fine…" she sighed. "This morning everything was completely perfect." She started. "But then I went into the bathroom for a second and when I got out, Troy's is sitting there going through my phone." She told them.

Sharpay got it right away. "I knew it, he's been suspicious all week." She told the three of them. "I could tell."

"Yeah so could I." Gabriella said. "I guess I was acting weird, but I would never expect Troy to do something so…" she trailed off, unable to explain herself.

"So that's what you guys were fighting about?" Kelsi asked.

"Yeah." Gabby nodded.

"But wait a minute, I'm confused." Taylor said. "I could tell by the looks on both of your faces that it wasn't just about Troy going into your phone." She concluded. "Who have you been messaging all this week?" she asked Gabriella.

Gabby knew what would come when she told them. "Tristan." She admitted.

"Well that explains a lot." Taylor leaned back. "I can see why Troy would be upset about that."

"I know…" Gabriella nodded. "But it's beginning to feel like I'm not allowed to even talk to any other guys or something. It happens with Ben too." She said.

"Hm…" Sharpay was thoughtful.

"Gabby." Taylor looked at her seriously. "I know it seems crazy, but I think I get it." She said. "Troy fought for you, and sure, he got you in the end but he's probably scared of losing you. Don't you remember how close you were to being with Ben?" she reminded Gabriella.

"Yeah." Gabby admitted. "But I'm not going anywhere." She whispered, shaking her head lightly.

Surprisingly, Taylor let out a small smile. She knew the answer to this problem. She could help her best friend out. "Then make sure he knows that."